This map shows the three wards that City Clerk Sue Cote is proposing for Sanford.

SANFORD — City Clerk Sue Cote is proposing condensing Sanford’s seven voting wards into three, a move she hopes will reduce paperwork, accommodate a smaller team of volunteers and lead to quicker results on election night.

“I’m hoping it’ll be more efficient,” she said of the proposal.

The Sanford City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposal at its next regular meeting on Tuesday, March 4.

Most municipalities in Maine establish their wards based on population figures provided by the census every ten years. Sanford, however, calls for a different procedure under the new charter voters passed in November of 2012.

According to the charter’s “Establishment and Review of Voting Districts,” under Article XI, Section 1102.1, the wards “shall be divided into as nearly an equal number of voters as possible.”

Ward 1 would cover a broad, roughly northwestern swath and contain 4,457 voters. Ward 2 would encompass a smaller, but denser, eastern portion of the city with 4,835 voters. Ward 3 would span the city’s southernmost end with 4,379 voters. The three wards would correspond to the state’s new redistricting — Ward 1 with House District 19; 2, with House District 18; and 3, with House District 4. (See map on Page A2.)

Under the proposal, there also will be only three polling locations: the Nasson Community Center on Main Street in Springvale for Ward 1, the St. Ignatius Parish Hall on Riverside Avenue for Ward 2, and Curtis Lake Church on Westview Drive for Ward 3.

Sanford started consolidating polling sites in 2011 after health concerns arose regarding one of them, a now-closed function hall on High Street. Those who had usually voted at the function hall were redirected to St. Ignatius Parish Hall for the election that November.

Cote said she wanted to wait until after the state’s redistricting before she resumed consolidating polls.

Right now, voters in the city’s wards report to five polling sites: the Nasson Community Center (Ward One); the Sanford-Springvale YMCA (Ward Two); the St. Ignatius Parish Hall (Wards Three and Seven); Curtis Lake Church (Wards Four and Five); and Goodall Library (Ward Six).

If the city council approves the proposed map, then the changes would be implemented immediately.

For more information, please call the city clerk’s office at 324-9125.